WhoIsThis
02-06-2011, 08:59 PM
To begin with, please keep this thread civil. I don't want it locked or to get into any trouble. This thread is intended to be somewhat humorous, but also a place to discuss potential solutions.
I think that with the new influx of players, there seems to have been a drop in overall skill and to some degree, civility in the games. The boot, for example, has been misused. I generally prefer to use the boot as a method of last resort, for example, I am willing to tolerate very low level players in Plasma Pyramid. I once got booting for supposedly "killing things too quickly" with my pure int mage.
However, it's not booting (which does have legitimate uses) that I consider the most serious problem, it's the way that some players conduct themselves. Many players have been power-levelled and this has been discussed in many other threads about the impacts. I will be the first to admit that perhaps I may even be part of the problem, as I use Plasma in AO2 as one of my main money farming levels.
I have no problems teaching new players how where each portal in victory lap leads to or introducing a bunch of level 40s with their first characters what a tank pot is and why they need it to face the overlord, but there are some things that are starting to get on my nerves.
Here though are some of the experiences that I have had:
Mage:
- "I don't res"
It's true that in battle, it's often hard to see who has died when you're trying to often stay alive yourself. As a mage, you may not have the most hp, so health is critical. However, there are those who apparently don't res at all. Interestingly enough, they are often the loudest to demand that you res them (my main has become a mage) when they die.
- "I don't heal people" OR "Healing is for noobs"
Not sure how this one came about. That said, it is very annoying and also unfortunately very common to see mages not healing. I don't always play as mage (in fact my first character was a bird) and I often have to call out "heal" or "res the other player". Even for a strength or dex mage, it does not take a lot of mana and can make a big difference.
- A variant of the above that I once heard:
"I am pure strength mage. Healing and res-ing are for int mages. I do not have any of my skill points stacked in either skill."
I can't remember who said that one to me, but I quickly recommended that he/she respec as healing can save your own life. They then pointed out that they had pots and my conversation with that player quickly descended into a flame war. We didn't progress much beyond that. I think that while the rest of the team supported me, the host unfortunately was the guy's friend and had me booted. When I was in Balefort, I then saw my 2 other team members who supported me appear seconds after.
- "My mana shield makes me invincible when I activate it."
Sadly no or the game would be seriously unbalanced. I then jokingly recommended to the player that they test out their hypothesis in PvP against a veteran bird. The player said they would and promptly left. I wonder how this one turned out for that mage. Lol.
Bird:
- "Break armor is useless"
It doesn't do much damage, but it is very important against bosses. I insisted that this player use it, but apparently, they kept it at 1 and never casted it.
- "Thorn wall doesn't do anything - why should I cast it when you are around?"
I'm amazed at how few players use combos. But this guy - we were in the shadow caves and I specifically told the player to cast thorn wall so I could hit nearby enemies with lightning and hot flash.
Another one with combos:
- "Why should I cast shattering scream before using my blast shot?"
This one was beyond all redemption; the player refused to even experiment with it once.
Bear:
- "I like seeing things fly around all over the place."
Bears have already got a bad rep for misuse of stomp, but this guy just made me think, are you crazy? I reminded him that the boss had been stomped out of bounds for the second time by him and was now healing. We had come very close to killing the boss that time.
- "I don't need evade and iron blood. They are useless. I'm powerful enough as a pure strength bear."
This bear charged into the overlord without potting and promptly died. He then complained when I was very cautious in res-ing him, giving the overlord a wide berth.
- "Taunt doesn't do anything"
Sadly, like mages not healing regularly, bears not casting taunt is another common problem.
- I suppose that the funniest should be left for last. Some bear once said this to me:
"I'm a not a pure strength bear. I just have 200 strength and the rest in int. You are a pure int mage. Use your mana shield and tank for us."
I thought for a moment that this bear was joking, but I quickly realized that the person was dead serious. He refused to tank and stayed back, doing minimal damage with his axe. He then often used beckon and stomp, causing my spells to miss their intended targets. When I actually did tank, he/she complained that I was slowing the team down because I waited every time for my mana and mana shield ability to fully recharge before advancing. I suppose I had no choice. There was myself (a mage), the bear, and three dex birds. Fortunately, the host (one of the birds) was annoyed as I was and later had this person booted after the bear caused an alien sniper to go out of bounds and heal.
I think that we have the problem of arrogant mainly level 50s. I have found that when talking to lower level people in plasma pyramid, many are often willing to listen. This works especially well for the mages who want to learn how to someday finish off enemies the way that a level 50 can. Similarly, I have a lot of credibility if I solo the overlord with my bird. Other birds in particular are more willing to listen to me. I guess that when you've done something for them, such as unlock Victory Lap, there's a ton of goodwill and credibility. A few of these people I have met are still my friends today.
However, with level 50s, things are different. For my first character, I levelled the hard way and had to make thousands of kills, just like many of the players here. I barely used any levelling pots. Among the level 50s however, many of them feel that they have been levelled through their own merit rather than often hanging back and "leeching" as the term is. Suddenly they are level 50, and expectations are much higher. I once saw a level 50 with less than 250 kills. A friend of mine claims to have seen a level 50 with less than 100 kills.
I can understand that these sorts of mistakes will be made in say, Forest Haven. For those who have created their second character, surely you have seen some of these actions done by people just starting out. But for people with the first character well, they are learning and mistakes will be made - just like how I made mistakes. It's the level 50s that are the problem here.
Your experiences? And how do we solve this type of behavior as a community?
I think that with the new influx of players, there seems to have been a drop in overall skill and to some degree, civility in the games. The boot, for example, has been misused. I generally prefer to use the boot as a method of last resort, for example, I am willing to tolerate very low level players in Plasma Pyramid. I once got booting for supposedly "killing things too quickly" with my pure int mage.
However, it's not booting (which does have legitimate uses) that I consider the most serious problem, it's the way that some players conduct themselves. Many players have been power-levelled and this has been discussed in many other threads about the impacts. I will be the first to admit that perhaps I may even be part of the problem, as I use Plasma in AO2 as one of my main money farming levels.
I have no problems teaching new players how where each portal in victory lap leads to or introducing a bunch of level 40s with their first characters what a tank pot is and why they need it to face the overlord, but there are some things that are starting to get on my nerves.
Here though are some of the experiences that I have had:
Mage:
- "I don't res"
It's true that in battle, it's often hard to see who has died when you're trying to often stay alive yourself. As a mage, you may not have the most hp, so health is critical. However, there are those who apparently don't res at all. Interestingly enough, they are often the loudest to demand that you res them (my main has become a mage) when they die.
- "I don't heal people" OR "Healing is for noobs"
Not sure how this one came about. That said, it is very annoying and also unfortunately very common to see mages not healing. I don't always play as mage (in fact my first character was a bird) and I often have to call out "heal" or "res the other player". Even for a strength or dex mage, it does not take a lot of mana and can make a big difference.
- A variant of the above that I once heard:
"I am pure strength mage. Healing and res-ing are for int mages. I do not have any of my skill points stacked in either skill."
I can't remember who said that one to me, but I quickly recommended that he/she respec as healing can save your own life. They then pointed out that they had pots and my conversation with that player quickly descended into a flame war. We didn't progress much beyond that. I think that while the rest of the team supported me, the host unfortunately was the guy's friend and had me booted. When I was in Balefort, I then saw my 2 other team members who supported me appear seconds after.
- "My mana shield makes me invincible when I activate it."
Sadly no or the game would be seriously unbalanced. I then jokingly recommended to the player that they test out their hypothesis in PvP against a veteran bird. The player said they would and promptly left. I wonder how this one turned out for that mage. Lol.
Bird:
- "Break armor is useless"
It doesn't do much damage, but it is very important against bosses. I insisted that this player use it, but apparently, they kept it at 1 and never casted it.
- "Thorn wall doesn't do anything - why should I cast it when you are around?"
I'm amazed at how few players use combos. But this guy - we were in the shadow caves and I specifically told the player to cast thorn wall so I could hit nearby enemies with lightning and hot flash.
Another one with combos:
- "Why should I cast shattering scream before using my blast shot?"
This one was beyond all redemption; the player refused to even experiment with it once.
Bear:
- "I like seeing things fly around all over the place."
Bears have already got a bad rep for misuse of stomp, but this guy just made me think, are you crazy? I reminded him that the boss had been stomped out of bounds for the second time by him and was now healing. We had come very close to killing the boss that time.
- "I don't need evade and iron blood. They are useless. I'm powerful enough as a pure strength bear."
This bear charged into the overlord without potting and promptly died. He then complained when I was very cautious in res-ing him, giving the overlord a wide berth.
- "Taunt doesn't do anything"
Sadly, like mages not healing regularly, bears not casting taunt is another common problem.
- I suppose that the funniest should be left for last. Some bear once said this to me:
"I'm a not a pure strength bear. I just have 200 strength and the rest in int. You are a pure int mage. Use your mana shield and tank for us."
I thought for a moment that this bear was joking, but I quickly realized that the person was dead serious. He refused to tank and stayed back, doing minimal damage with his axe. He then often used beckon and stomp, causing my spells to miss their intended targets. When I actually did tank, he/she complained that I was slowing the team down because I waited every time for my mana and mana shield ability to fully recharge before advancing. I suppose I had no choice. There was myself (a mage), the bear, and three dex birds. Fortunately, the host (one of the birds) was annoyed as I was and later had this person booted after the bear caused an alien sniper to go out of bounds and heal.
I think that we have the problem of arrogant mainly level 50s. I have found that when talking to lower level people in plasma pyramid, many are often willing to listen. This works especially well for the mages who want to learn how to someday finish off enemies the way that a level 50 can. Similarly, I have a lot of credibility if I solo the overlord with my bird. Other birds in particular are more willing to listen to me. I guess that when you've done something for them, such as unlock Victory Lap, there's a ton of goodwill and credibility. A few of these people I have met are still my friends today.
However, with level 50s, things are different. For my first character, I levelled the hard way and had to make thousands of kills, just like many of the players here. I barely used any levelling pots. Among the level 50s however, many of them feel that they have been levelled through their own merit rather than often hanging back and "leeching" as the term is. Suddenly they are level 50, and expectations are much higher. I once saw a level 50 with less than 250 kills. A friend of mine claims to have seen a level 50 with less than 100 kills.
I can understand that these sorts of mistakes will be made in say, Forest Haven. For those who have created their second character, surely you have seen some of these actions done by people just starting out. But for people with the first character well, they are learning and mistakes will be made - just like how I made mistakes. It's the level 50s that are the problem here.
Your experiences? And how do we solve this type of behavior as a community?